Gore: Vice President vs. the Candidate

by Craig Welch
Seattle Times - June 10, 2000

RICHLAND - Two hours after the Hanford Reach was
designated a national monument, Al Gore bounced up the
Columbia River, pointed to deer on cobblestone bars and
floated briefly over salmon spawning beds before zipping
off to tout his green credentials.

On his first Eastern Washington trip in four years, Vice
President Gore took in one-sixth of the newly protected
51-mile stretch of river in 25 minutes before turning back to
let Candidate Gore give a salmon-recovery speech that
earned mixed reviews from its most attentive audience.

To environmentalists, the likely Democratic presidential
nominee has a habit of not going far enough. Some hoped
he would come out in support of removing dams to try to
save salmon.

"It's wonderful that the vice president has recognized the
value of the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia, but we
are disappointed he has not seemed willing to show some
leadership on the Snake River as well," said Lisa Andrews
of Save Our Wild Salmon.

In a speech before some 300 people at the Tri-Cities
campus of Washington State University, overlooking a
section of the Columbia River, Gore made no mention of a
controversial proposal to remove Snake River dams.

Instead, he echoed Democratic Gov. Gary Locke, saying,
"Extinction is not an option," and said he would "bring
together all interested parties to find a real solution."

"I reject both extremes," Gore said. "There's a better way."

Gore said he wanted to let science drive the
salmon-recovery debate, but he offered no concrete
strategies.

He said he wanted an answer that would protect industry,
farmers and working people.

Environmentalists, who have met repeatedly with Gore in
the past year to repair an on-again, off-again relationship,
considered the proclamations an improvement, said Bill
Arthur with the Sierra Club in Seattle.

Arthur is confident science will back dam removal, and that
Gore, therefore, will eventually support removal as well.

"I'm sure people would have liked him to go further, but it's
there in implication," Arthur said.

It was an awkward moment for Gore to take up the salmon
vs. dams debate. County officials in the Tri-Cities opposed
the Reach designation and view it as a loss of local control.

Area resident Pat Holden, a Gore opponent, saw irony in
the vice president's promise to bring folks together within
hours of the administration's unilateral move to preserve
200,000 acres.

"He says one thing and does another," she said.

Dan Smugs of the National BLM Wilderness Campaign
said the Hanford Reach designation was commendable
but a scattershot approach to other key issues. He wanted
Gore to commit to protecting all roadless areas under the
Bureau of Land Management; the Clinton administration
has proposed protection for roadless areas under the U.S.
Forest Service.

And Gerry Pollet, executive director of the Heart of America
Northwest, said Gore needs to take a stand on proposals
to restart the Fast Flux Test Facility on the Hanford nuclear
reservation and to allow the site to be named a national
nuclear-waste facility because he's in danger of losing
state Democrats to Ralph Nader's presidential campaign
in the Green Party.

"He can't be let off the hook for forever," said Pollet, who is
also a delegate. "People say if he can't take a stand on
this, they're going to Nader."

Still, other environmentalists are rallying around Gore.
When he arrived in Seattle for a fund raiser, members of
the Sierra Club held up signs thanking him.

Seattle Times staff reporters Dionne Searcey and David
Postman contributed to this report.